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It seems like it was only yesterday that season 1997/98 started. Hajduk were looking to make up for the disasterous season before when Dinamo left them 21 points behind, Dinamo was riding the wave of signing Robert Prosinecki and a small club just made their first appearance in HNL. The name of the club was Slaven Belupo. That was 11 years ago.
In that time Slaven established themselves as a respectable top half of the table club and in the past 8 years they have made 6 appearances in European competitions which considering their financial ability is a great result on its own. While every other club in HNL, including Hajduk and Dinamo, had their ups and downs Slaven remained a constant a top half of the table club that can make things difficult for everyone and is always in the battle for European places. To make things even more unbelievable in their European appearances they never disgraced themselves or Croatian football. When they went out it was to clubs like Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Lille, Deportivo La Coruna, Galatasary and Sigma Olomouc.
Even when our top clubs like have been disgracing themselves by losing to Irish, Albanian and even Slovenian clubs Slaven never disgraced themselves. They never had any stars who were in everybody's spotlight, their good scouting system made them discover unknown players like Dodik and Vrucina who established themselves as respectable names in HNL they never brought in expensive signings, when they signed someone one'd often say who the **** is that.
They came where they are now by being completely different than anything else in HNL. They came where they are now by having a long term plan which is carefully designed so it is realistic. They don't have financial power that Dinamo, Hajduk or Rijeka have and yet they made a bigger step forward in the past 7 years than any other Croatian club.
Well done Slaven Belupo, and the rest of HNL can look up to them and their way of doing things.
In that time Slaven established themselves as a respectable top half of the table club and in the past 8 years they have made 6 appearances in European competitions which considering their financial ability is a great result on its own. While every other club in HNL, including Hajduk and Dinamo, had their ups and downs Slaven remained a constant a top half of the table club that can make things difficult for everyone and is always in the battle for European places. To make things even more unbelievable in their European appearances they never disgraced themselves or Croatian football. When they went out it was to clubs like Aston Villa, Stuttgart, Lille, Deportivo La Coruna, Galatasary and Sigma Olomouc.
Even when our top clubs like have been disgracing themselves by losing to Irish, Albanian and even Slovenian clubs Slaven never disgraced themselves. They never had any stars who were in everybody's spotlight, their good scouting system made them discover unknown players like Dodik and Vrucina who established themselves as respectable names in HNL they never brought in expensive signings, when they signed someone one'd often say who the **** is that.
They came where they are now by being completely different than anything else in HNL. They came where they are now by having a long term plan which is carefully designed so it is realistic. They don't have financial power that Dinamo, Hajduk or Rijeka have and yet they made a bigger step forward in the past 7 years than any other Croatian club.
Well done Slaven Belupo, and the rest of HNL can look up to them and their way of doing things.
